Pressing machine with sectional element



Aug. 11, 1936. G. w. JOHNSON PRESSING MACHINE WITH SECTIONAL ELEMENT F-iled Nov. 17, 1934 Patented Aug. 11, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHQE PRESSING MACHINE WITH SECTIONAL ELEMENT Application November 17, 1934, Serial No. 753,476

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a pressing machine of the type used in laundry or garment work. These machines often comprise pressing elements of considerable pressing area and inasmuch as a variety of work is handled, it is quite often necessary or desirable to press small articles or small portions of large articles between pressing elements of considerable area.

I My invention therefore provides a pair of coacting pressing members, one of which is divided into sections each separately movable by power means toward and from the coacting pressing member so that all or a portion of the pressing members may be moved into final pressure engagement at the will of the operator.

My invention comprises means for moving one of the pressing members into position adjacent the sectional pressing member, together with means for thereafter automatically moving one 20 or more of the sections of the latter pressing member into final pressure engagement.

| My invention also contemplates the provision of suitable control mechanism whereby the operator may selectively disable the automatic mech- 5 anism so that only a portion of the sectional pressing member will be moved into final pressure engagement when the operator so desires.

My invention also provides apressin buck having sections, each comprising a flexible dis- 30 tensible fluid-impervious cover member, together with means for inflating or distending the cover member of each section separately toward a cooperating pressing member.

Other novel features and advantages of my 35 improved pressingmachine will appear from the drawing and from the accompanying description, and the essential features will be summarized in the claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a 4,0 pressing machine embodying my invention, certain of the parts being shown in section and with the control mechanism shown in diagrammatic form; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the pressing bed or buck of Fig. 1; while Fig. 3 is a modified 45 form of pressing buck.

My invention is illustrated as applied to a conventional type of pressing machine in which a frame it! supports a pressing bed or buck indicated generally at H and a coacting head or 50 chest 12 which is carried by a head lever l3 pivotally mounted on a bracket M of the frame and movable toward and from pressing position adjacent the buck by means of a pair of toggles l5 and 5 extending between the rearwardly ex- 55 tending arm of the head lever and the frame.

A fluid motor i1 is provided with a piston l8 and piston rod is pivotally connected at 20 to the toggle knuckle for moving the head to its pressing position at which time the toggles assume the dot-dash position indicated at 2| in '5 1, such movement being limited by engagement of the shoulders 22 of the toggles. A spring 23 connected between toggle l6 and the frame biases the toggles toward their broken position and biases the head or chest toward its 10v open position. The toggles are held in the position indicated at 2! by means of a latch member ll! which may conveniently be pivotally mounted on a portion of the frame in position to engage a pin H carried by the toggle l5. Latch I0 is connected by link 72, bellcrank i3 and link 14 with treadle 15 located at the front of the machine. A spring !6 is arranged to bias the latch toward its locking position.

Fluid for operating the motor I! is supplied from conduit 24 through a pair of valve casings 25 and 26 connected in series by conduits 21, 28 and 29, and valve casing 26 is connected with motor I! by conduit 30. Each of these valve casings encloses a normally closed inlet valve 25 and a normally open outlet valve indicated by the suffixes a and b respectively. In each casing the inlet and outlet valves are carried by a common stem so that they are adapted to be operated simultaneously by the manuals 3| and 30 32 respectively.

The bed or buck H is divided into sections, each of which is individually movable into pressure engagement with the cooperating pressing member and in the form shown the means for moving the sections takes the form of an inflatable cover member or bag. The buck shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is divided longitudinally so as to provide a front half 33 and a rear half 34. This arrangement is advantageous in the pressing of mens shirts where it is desirable to press one half of the shirt front only. To this end, the buck construction comprises a front casting 35 and a rear casting 36 rigidly secured together and with flexible distensible substantially fluidimpervious cover members 3! and 38 each extending over substantially half of the buck and secured thereto in fluid tight connection, the specific construction comprising the gripping of the adjacent cover member edges in the center of the buck at 39 between downwarly extending flanges 40 on the buck castings and the securing of the outer edge of the cover member by means of strips 4|. The cover members 31 and 38 are secured in a similar manner at the ends of the buck. Separate means is provided for in flating or distending each section of the pressing buck, for instance section 34 is supplied by conduit 42 controlled through the valves in casing 43, while section 33 is supplied with motive fluid through conduit 44 controlled by the valves in casing 45. Each of the valve casings 43 and 45 comprises a normally closed inlet valve and a normally open outlet valve indicated by the suffixes a and b respectively, and mounted on a common valve stem indicated by the sum 0 so that the valves are operable in unison. The fluid supply to valve casings 43 and 45 is by Way of conduit 46 and the branch conduit 3?.

Means is provided for actuating the valves in casings 43 and 45 automatically upon the chest |2 being moved to its pressing position. The means shown comprises lugs 43 and 49 on the toggle members which are adapted to contact through intermediate connecting members about to be described, the valve stems 3-50 and 430 respectively, when the toggles reach the dotdash position of Fig. l. Thereupon the outlet valves 43b and 452) are closed and the inlet valves 43a and 45a are opened to supply pressure fluid simultaneously to the sections of the buck so as to move the entire surface thereof into pressure engagement with the coacting head.

Means is provided whereby the operator may selectively control the movement of the various sections of the buck so as to use one or more of them as she desires. For this purpose a connecting member such as the bar is inserted between the lug 48 and the valve stem and a similar bar 5| is provided between lug 43 and valve stem 430. These bars are connected by stems 52 and 53 respectively with the pistons 54 and 55 of fluid motors 56 and 51. Springs 54a and 55a bias the bars to effective position. That is to say, the bars are normally in position to form an operative connection between the lugs connected with the toggle members and the valve stems connected with the bag inflating valves. To cut out a section of the bed it is necessary for the operator to actuate one or more of these motors 55 or 5'! so as to move the bars 58 or iii respectively to inoperative position. For this purpose fluid is supplied to motor 55 by conduit 58 which is controlled by normally closed inlet valve 59 which in turn is operable by stem 69 and manual 6|. Motor 51 is supplied with pressure fluid through conduit 62 controlled by normally closed inlet valve 63 which is operable by stem 64 and manual 65. To permit the operator to operate either half of the buck by a simple two-hand control cross connections are supplied between manuals 6| and 65 so that when either one is operated it will simultaneously operate valve stem 250 which under certain conditions is actuated through manual 32. These cross connections comprise an arm 66 secured to valve stem 69 and overlying a collar Bl on stem and another arm 68 rigidly attached to stem 64 and overlying collar 69 on valve stem 260.

The operation of the mechanism above described with the parts in the position of Fig. 1 is as follows:

The operator arranges the lay of the work upon the buck II, it being understood that the cover members 3! and 38 may form the pressing surface of the buck or they may be merely incorporated therein and provided with suitable padding or cover members thereover. The operator then actuates manual 3| and manual 32 if she is using the entire pressing surface of the buck. Fluid will then flow through conduit 24, valve 25a, conduits 21, 28 and 29, valve 26a and conduit 36 to motor l1, thus actuating the piston i8 in a direction to straighten the toggles and move the pressing head to pressing position adjacent the buck. As the toggles reach straightened position, lugs 48 and 49 will engage bars 59 and 5| respectively, thereby actuating valve stems 45c and 430 to open inlet valves 45a and 43a respectively, which will admit pressure fluid to both halves of the buck cover, inflating the same into pressure engagement with the head. As the toggles reach straightened position, latch 10 engages pin II and at the close of the pressing operation the operator depresses treadie '55, thus disengaging latch member 10 and permitting spring 23 to break the toggles and open the press. As the toggles start to break lugs 48 and 49 relieve the pressure on valve stems 45c and 430 respectively, whereupon the springs in the respective valve casings return the valves to normal position cutting off the flow of fluid to the front and rear halves of the pressing buck and opening the chambers beneath the cover members to exhaust.

Assuming that the operator desires to use the rear half 34 of the buck only, the operation is the same as above described except that the operator actuates manuals 3| and 6! Actuation of manual 6| through arm 65 serves to actuate the valves in casing 26 the same as if manual 32 had been operated and the motor I! will act as before to move the head I2 to pressing position. As the toggles reach straightened position,

lug 48 will be ineifective to actuate its associated valves because upon actuation of manual 5! pressure was admitted through valve 59 and conduit 58 to motor 56 which moved piston 54 upwardly, thus lifting bar 50 out of the position shown in Fig. 1 so that lug 48 is ineffective to actuate valve stem 450. However, valve lug 49 is effective as before to actuate stem 43c and the valves in casing 43 so as to supply fluid beneath cover member 38, thus distending the pressing surface on the rear half of the buck into engagement with the head.

Where it is desired to use the front half of the buck, the operator will actuate manuals 3| and 65 and this operation is similar to that just described because fluid is thus supplied through valve 63 and conduit 62 to actuate motor 51, rendering the bar 5| ineffective to connect lug 49 and valve stem 430, whereas lug 48 is effective through bar 59 to actuate the valves in casing 45.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the buck is provided with multiple sections numbered from H to 82 in which case the operator may press small articles or small portions of large articles on the end sections Tl, 18, 8! and 82 as desired. It will be obvious that the control for this modification will be arranged along the lines already described, namely, additional valve mechanism will be provided for controlling the inflation of each section of the buck with suitable control manuals so that the operator may select those sections which he desires to use.

What I claim is:

1. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members to pressing position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections individually movable toward and from the first named pressing member, means individual to each section actuable automatically by said first named means when said one member reaches pressing position for moving each of said sections toward the coacting pressing member, and operator-operatedmeans for selectively controlling said last-named means.

2. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members into pressing position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, the other of said pressing members comprising sections independently movable toward and away from said one member, separate means for controlling the movement of each section, said control means being actuable automatically by said first named means upon movement of said one member into passing position, and means controlled by the operator for disabling the control means for one of said sections.

3. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members to a position adjacent and out of contact with the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluid-impervious cover member, the cover member of each section being individually movable into and out of engagement with the first named pressing member for a pressing operation, and means for supplying and exhausting fluid at each pressing operation to move the cover member of each of said sections toward and from the coacting pressing member.

4. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members to a position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluid-impervious cover member, the cover member of each section being individually movable toward and from the first named pressing member, and means individual to each section and selectively controllable by the operator for distending the cover member of each of said sections toward the coacting pressing member.

5. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members to pressing position, adjacent and out of contact with the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluidimpervious cover member the cover member of each section being individually movable into and out of engagement with the first named pressing member for a pressing operation, and means individual to each section actuable automatically by said first named means when said one mem ber reaches pressing position for distending the cover member of each of said sections toward the coacting pressing member.

6. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members into pressing position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, the other of said pressing members comprising sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluid-impervious cover member, the cover member of each section being independently movable toward and away from said one member, means for distending said cover members, separate means for controlling the distension of the cover member of each section, each of said control means being actuable automatically by said first named means upon movement of said one member into pressing position, and means controlled by the operator for disabling the control means for one of said sections.

7. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means for moving one of said members to a position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections individually movable toward and from the first named pressing member, power means for moving each of said sections toward the coacting pressing member, means actuable automatically by said first named means for operating said power means, and means including a motor for controlling said last-named means.

8. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means including motion transmitting mechanism for moving one of said members to pressing position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, said other member having sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluid-impervious cover member, the cover member of each section being individually movable toward and from the first named pressing member, means for distending the cover member of each section including a fluid supply conduit and a valve, and an operative connection between said motion transmitting mechanism and each of said valves whereby each valve is actuable automatically by said first named means when said one member reaches pressing position.

9. In a pressing machine, a pair of cooperating pressing members, means including motion transmitting mechanism for moving one of said members into pressing position adjacent the other member and for holding it there, the other of said pressing members comprising sections each comprising a flexible distensible fluid-impervious cover member, the cover member of each section being independently movable toward and away from said one member, means for distending the cover member of each section including a fiuid supply conduit and a normally closed valve in said conduit, an operative connection between said motion transmitting mechanism and each of said valves for opening each valve automatically when said one member reaches pressing position, and means controlled by the operator for selectively disabling each of said operative connections.

GEORGE W. JOHNSON. 

